A TEENAGER with a rare blood condition is overwhelmed with the support a charity set up in her honour has received.

Lauren Pinder, 16, is one of just eight people in the country to be diagnosed with klippel-trenaunay syndrome. Babies are born with visible birth marks, which are caused by abnormal blood vessels.

Her mum Amanda, 40, of Chapel Street, Billericay, is waiting to set up a charitable foundation, but has been inundated with generous donations and kind offers of support.

The campaign to raise awareness and fund vital research into the condition, which affects just one in 100,000 around the world, was launched with a fun day at the Pinder family home on Saturday.

Benfleet Car Wash owner MarkWright, 50, is also hosting a three-day fundraiser in her honour after reading her plight in the Echo.

Other planned events include a summer ball, charity football match and an activity day at Partyman World in Basildon, but Mrs Pinder said her daughter is unlikely to be well enough to attend all of them.

She added: “Everything has really taken off. We still haven’t got the registration number for the charity, so we’re not sure how much has already been raised, but the foundation should be up and running in the next fewweeks.

“We’ve been so surprised because it’s not just local people, but everyone wants to do something to help.

“Lauren is overwhelmed.

Saturday was a bit too much for her, so she has just been sleeping ever since.

“At one point we thought she was having one of her turns, but she managed to pull through.

“She’s not going to be able to go to all the fundraisers, as much as she would like to.”

Mrs Pinder has to call an ambulance on average once every three or four weeks because Lauren’s blood clots or stops flowing.

She nearly died after her heart stopped when she was just ten years old, and two years later she had a stroke.

Babies with klippel-trenaunay syndrome are born with visible birth marks, which are caused by abnormal blood vessels.

As they get older, further symptoms develop, including varicose veins and limb hypertrophy, which means some parts of the body grow too much.

For more information, email ktsfund@mail.com or call 07939 366998.